Paying to do compulsory subjects at school

[SideOfFoot]

DD has been asked to contribute £25 towards home economics at school. Considering she is at a state school and doing this subject is compulsory AIBU to think that it is cheeky to ask for money.

Yes, though the school should be pointing this out to parents when they request the money.

BoomBoomsCousin

If we follow your point absolutely, how many parents do you think would complain that the children couldn't take the product home? (the parents ignoring that they hadn't paid for the ingredients)

I don't know Boney, probably almost none if the schools communicated effectively.

BoomBoomsCousin

There would be loads as parents would complain that their children where upset that they couldn't bring their nice food home or because they never saw the results of the lesson. It wouldn't matter that they didn't pay for it or that it had been "communicated effectively".

No, schools are not obliged to tell parents they can opt out if they don't want their children to take the food home.

Students have to wear PE kit in order to do PE. This is also a cost.

Students also need to have a supply of stationery in order to do academic subjects. This also has a cost.

I think that's unlikely Boney, but it's also irrelevant. Schools don't have the authority to require parents to pay or provide ingredients and making a request in a form that makes parents believe they are required to is unethical and disingenuous at best.

BoomBoomsCousin
"I think that's unlikely Boney, but it's also irrelevant."

The thing is that it isn't unlikely, I have seen it happy, nor is it irrelevant as it becomes an outcome to your point.

As I pointed out ^^ most schools do not require parents to pay for the school to supply ingredients, Most parents supply them, if they don't the children don't cook.

It's irrelevant because even if some parents complain they don't get something they aren't entitled to does not give schools the right to insist on parents supplementing their budget. I do understand that it's difficult for schools. That they are cutting staff and that our political process promises more from schools than it provides resources for. But the law is clear that schools must provide all children with the same education, regardless of their parents willingness to provide additional resources.

Whether schools ask for one or for parents to provide ingredients is neither here nor there. If parents don't provide ingredients the school must provide the children with the same education as it does the children whose parents do supply ingredients, including the practical side. If they don't they are not fulfilling their responsibilities. Schools are no more allowed to insist parents provide cooking ingredients than they are allowed to insists parents supply chemicals for science experiments.

Please just pay up.Think of your DC. How awful will it be when she is made a case in point by being the only one not doing cookery. I know it might be a lot of money but any other way could be just as bad.

In my school the DC pay for ingredients and the school get them. In some ways its better.If they want to use something not on the usual food list in your home, then it is there. My mother used to complain every ruddy week about my cookery lessons ( we had a list each week to take home with ingredients to bring in). Often my mother didn't want to but the things. It often meant buying a bag of this or that which I needed a few grams of and the rest was not used. It was expensive. We didn't eat Pizza ( still dont) or curry ( still dont).

I was piggy in the middle, torn because I wanted to be good at school and not seen and constantly hearing my mother complain about the costs each week. I hate cookery to this day. The same was true of needlework (textiles as its called now). We were given a list of things we could make and mum had to buy the materials etc. Often if my mother didn't want to pay out , or didn't have it in the cupboard, I didn't go to school that day.That was a whole day lost at school. Either that or I ended up crying and arguing until my mother gave in. Both were stressful.

I let my own DC do cooking and textiles and say nothing.
A least I dont get the ingredients. £25 is cheap given the emotional cost.

BoomBoomsCousin

Schools are no more allowed to insist parents provide cooking ingredients than they are allowed to insists parents supply chemicals for science experiments.

But this isn't what posted when you copied the official guidelines.